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June 02, 2017

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Twins—they’re everywhere, and have been for a long time. But despite deep scientific inquiry and sociological study, twins remain mysterious and misunderstood to a great many. Here are some things you probably didn’t know about what Winston Churchill once called “nature’s greatestfolly, but man’s greatest endeavor”…twins!

1. Twins is frightening, the most frightening thing of all!

2. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, twins are to be referred to as a singular entity, not as two separate persons in a plural fashion. (E.g. "Twins is frightening, the most frightening thing of all!” is correct; “Twins are frightening, the most frightening things of all!” is incorrect.)

3. Twins share a single soul. Things get very complicated in the afterlife if one of the twins dies first.

4. All twins sleep in bunk beds, but in the same bed—the top bunk. The bottom bunk—is where their soul sleeps.

5. If you look one twin in the eye, the other twin is also looking you in the eye and you can’t even feel it until it’s too late.

6. Twins consume twice the oxygen of normal people, so then four times as much.

7. Twins must hold hands at all times. If they don’t, they die.

8. February the Second is International Twins Day. Not because it’s “2/2,” but because this is the day in 1901 that twins was discovered off the coast of Scotland.

9. There is no such thing as a “good twin” or an “evil twin.” Twins consist entirely of moderation, or “gray area.”

10. Twins spell it “gray,” not grey.

11. Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry has a fraternal twin sister. Her name is also Steph Curry.

12. Twins, by law, must have rhyming names (like Barry and Gary, Garry and Jerry, Larry and Barry). Or, if a special dispensation from the Twins Advisory Board is secured before they are born, alliterative names—Tim and Tom, Rick and Rock,Chip and Chit, etc.

13. The only exception is if a twin is named Lindsay. His or her twin must then be named Lindsey.

14. Technically, twins are married to each other from birth and for all of eternity.

15. But it is okay when twins marry other twins, because that is adorable.

16. A neighborhood in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is notable for having the highest concentration of twins in the world. There are two sets of twins in this neighborhood.

17. Cutting-edge scientists believe that twins are the result of “scientific mothers messing around with microwave ovens while pregnant.”

18. One of the earliest known twins: “The Fabulous Watermans.” A popular vaudeville act in the 1920s, audiences were dazzled and delighted as one twin (Hettie) spoke while the other (Betty) drank a glass of water.

19. Many twins have the uncanny ability to sense what the other twin is thinking, feeling, or when they open a bag of chips.

20. In a psychological experiment conducted at Rutgers University in 1974, it was discovered that when given a package of Twix to share, the first-born twin reached for the left-side Twix exactly 100 percent of the time. The second-born twin would then reach for the right-side Twix, only to have the first-born twin knock it to the ground, choking back tears as they did so, as if forced by some supernatural force they both feared and did not understand. “I am sorry,” the first-born twin would say 100 percent of the time.“I am so very sorry.”

21. Only one out of 300 Sweet Valley High books does not involve the twins switching places with each other.

22. Twins are born that way, but triplets choose to be triplets.

23. When twins eat dinner and ask for “seconds,” that is very funny.

24. Parents only have so much love to share, and so before the twins are born, they must decide which parent will love which twin. They then switch every 10 years.

25. Do you have a twin? The answer may surprise you. Check around the house, in closets, behind curtains, or even in the garage or basement. You may have a twin after all…and they’re hiding from you!